Air Force adds jobs to special duty pay list in 2019

Senior Airman Jordan Futch, 2nd Operational Support Squadron air traffic controller, watches an aircraft tracker in preparation for a plane landing during a hurricane evacuation taking place at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., in September 2017. Air traffic controllers who are senior airmen and train other controllers on a day-to-day basis are now eligible for special duty assignment pay. (Airman 1st Class Sydney Campbell/Air Force)

Some professional military education instructors, defense couriers and cyber airmen could be eligible for monthly special duty payments in fiscal 2019.

Last year, the Air Force added 10 new jobs to the list of special duty assignment pays. This year, however, only three jobs are being added, and a handful more are being increased. A comparison of the 2018 and 2019 special pay lists show no career fields were dropped this year, or had their monthly payments reduced.

This year, the Air Force has added to the list:

* Certain professional military education instructors who are qualified and currently teaching at Airman Leadership School, the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, the Senior NCO Academy, Cadet Leadership Course, and Enlisted PME Instruction Course. Those instructors can receive the lowest monthly payment of $75, regardless of how long they’ve been in that job.

Certain flight engineers, loadmasters, remotely-piloted aircraft sensor operators, and cyberspace mission forces could be newly eligible for hefty additional payments each month under the Air Force’s latest expansion of special duty assignment pay.

By: Stephen Losey

* Defense couriers in the 8P000 career field with the required training and experience, who are also eligible for $75 per month. These couriers are responsible for safeguarding and transporting sensitive material, making sure those materials are delivered to the right people and are safely stored after delivery.

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The Air Force has also increased special duty pays for several career fields that were already eligible, or expanded their eligibility:

* Certain airmen in the 724th Special Tactics Group at Pope Field in North Carolina, whose $150, $225 or $300 monthly special pays will increase to $225, $300 or $375, depending on how long they have served in the special duty.

* Certain Air Force Special Operations Command air operations flight airmen will have their monthly payments increased from either $75 to $225 to $225 to $375, depending on their length of service in the job. Others will see their payments go up from $225 to $375, to $300 to the maximum $450.

* Some Office of Special Investigations airmen will have their payments increased to either $225 or $300.

* Air traffic controllers who train other controllers on a day-to-day basis, and who are senior airmen, also can now receive $75 per month. Previously, only air traffic controllers who served as watch supervisors or in other staff duty positions were eligible for $225 per month in special duty pay.

* Command chief master sergeants serving at the unified combatant command and major command levels will get a bump in their monthly pay, from $225 to $300. All other command chiefs will stay at $225.

* Certain special operations surgical team airmen in the 4H0X1 cardiopulmonary laboratory career field and assigned to AFSOC or U.S. Special Operations Command Europe are now eligible to receive the maximum $450 monthly payment. Previously, only SOST airmen in the 4N1X1 surgical service career field were eligible for that $450 payment.

* Korean cryptologic language analysts' monthly special payments went from either $300 or $375, depending on their skill level, to $375 or $450.